The Bender House with a cut-out
illustration showing the interior of the house

THE BLOODY
BENDERSMass Murderers from the History of Kansas

The infamous Bender family appeared quietly in southeastern
Kansas in the spring of 1872. They didnít appear to be anything special, just
another immigrant family that had escaped the confines of the eastern cities
to try their hand out west. Like so many others, they merely wanted to make
new lives and fortunes in the untamed west. However, their methods for
obtaining such fortunes differed greatly from most of the other homesteaders.

The Benderís constructed a home between the towns of Thayer
and Galesburg in Neosho County. It was not a fancy place, but was a general
store and a wayside inn that could provide both food and a bed for travelers.
The house was made up of one large room that was divided by a canvas curtain.
This separated the grocery store and inn from the familyís living quarters in
the back. Old man Bender, his wife and their dull-witted son spoke little to
the strangers who passed through, save for an occasional greeting along the
local roads or to sell them canned goods and coffee. Old man Bender and his
raw-boned wife, aged between 50 and 60, were thought to have been immigrants
from Germany but they spoke with such guttural accents that no one could be
certain.

On the other hand, their beautiful
daughter Kate was outgoing and aggressive. Men were immediately attracted
to the tall, fair-haired beauty and she became quite a draw for the
Benderís establishment. She also became well-known in the region as a
psychic medium, who could contact the spirits of the dead and even cure
sickness and maladies for a generous donation. Kate appeared in a number
of small Kansas towns with her spiritualistic show. As "Professor Miss
Kate Bender", she gave public sťances and entertained crowds. She was very
popular with the male members of the audience and some of these men
traveled to the Benderís hotel to see her again.

They, like many luckless travelers who
passed through, were never seen again.

Kate often gave
Spiritualist performances and sťances in nearby Kansas towns. It was said
that overnight travelers could pay an additional price to spend a night
with Kate.

The danger of dining with the Benderís came when seated
with your back to the canvas wall. Some travelers complained of hearing
strange sounds from behind the curtain while they ate. They didnít realize
what might be coming their way for dessert. Kate would also place her
spiritualist clients with their backs to the curtain. In the darkened room,
she made all sorts of strange manifestations appear, usually with her familyís
earthly assistance, and managed to keep the sitter transfixed in place for an
extended period of time. However, some of the sitters became unnerved with
their backs against the canvas wall. One man was so scared that he insisted on
being moved to another seat. Kate became so angry with him that he stayed put.
Finally though, after hearing what he believed were otherworldly whispers on
the other side of the sheet, he jumped up and ran from the inn.

Many travelers were not so discerning though. If a diner,
overnight guest or sťance participant appeared to be wealthy, he was given a
seat of honor with his back to the curtain. While Kate distracted him, Old Man
Bender or his son would sneak up to the curtain with a sledgehammer. They
would then strike a savage blow to the top of the manís head, killing him
instantly. The body was then dragged back beneath the canvas and stripped. A
trap door that led to an earthen cellar was opened and the body was dumped
below until it could be buried somewhere on the prairie. A favorite burying
ground was apparently an orchard that was located on the property.

This system of murder worked well for more than 18 months.
Kate drew a number of victims to their door with her offers of spirit
communication and her brother often accosted travelers on nearby roads. He
would strike up a conversation with them and convince them that spending the
night at the inn was preferable to journeying on.

One victim who was persuaded to enjoy the Benderís
hospitality (on a permanent basis) was Dr. William York. He was actually
returning to visit the inn, and most likely to see Kate again, in the spring
of 1873. He had stayed there once before on his trip west and informed his
brother, Colonel York of Fort Scott, that he would be staying with the
Benderís again on his return journey. Not surprisingly, Dr. York never
returned home.

A short time after his brotherís disappearance, on May 4,
1873, Colonel York arrived at the Bender home. York explained that his brother
had disappeared and he asked the family about whether or not he had passed
through the area. He thought that the doctor had planned to stay with them.
Had they seen him?

They answered that they hadnít and suggested that perhaps
he was delayed, or had run into trouble with Indians. York agreed that all of
this was possible and ate a hearty dinner. Later on that night, while sitting
alone in the front room, he happened to notice something glittering underneath
one of the beds. He pulled the object out and saw that it was a locket on a
gold chain. He opened it and was startled to see the faces of his brotherís
wife and daughter inside! He recognized the locket then as a trinket that his
brother wore on his watch chain. He quickly realized that the inn might have
been the last place that his brother had ever been seen alive.

York was in the front part of the inn by himself and so
quietly, he slipped out the front door. He would ride to the nearest town and
notify the authorities, he decided. Using his clout as a military officer,
they would get to the bottom of what was going on at the Bender house. He
walked across the dirt yard to the stable and out of the corner of his eye,
spotted a lantern swinging back and forth in the dark orchard. York walked in
the direction of the light and as he got closer, he crept up on it. In the
trees, he saw Old Man Bender and his son digging a hole in the ground. Nearby
was a large object wrapped in canvas that looked suspiciously like a body.

York returned to the Bender property the next morning,
shortly after sunrise. He did not come alone though. He had convinced the
sheriff to send a contingent of deputies and local men from town. The posse
planned to investigate the inn and the surrounding area, especially the
orchard. When they arrived however, they found that the house was empty. The
Benderís, apparently aware that York had disappeared the night before, had
packed up and left the place. The men searched the building but almost
everything was gone. York inspected the cellar and noted with alarm that the
dirt floor was coated with dried blood. The stench of the place was
overpowering.

The men set to work searching the fields and the orchard
around the house. Among the trees, they found 11 mounds of oddly shaped earth.
Several of them appeared to be fresh. The posse began to dig and tragically,
the body of Colonel Yorkís brother was found in the first grave that was
opened. More graves were found by walking about the edge of the prairie and
taking end gate rods from wagons and sticking them in the ground. Here and
there, they would strike a soft place and in every instance, these places
proved to be graves. More than two dozen bodies were allegedly found but how
many went undiscovered remains unknown.

People from all over the
region gathered at the Bender property as a search for bodies was
carried out. This Harper's Weekly sketch was made from a photo by a local
photographer.

The news soon spread about the "Bloody Benders" deadly
deeds and curiosity-seekers flocked to the house. Vengeful groups of riders
were formed and began searching throughout Kansas for any trace of the family.
They had vanished completely but authorities would go on searching for more
than fifty years without success. Officially, the Benderís were gone forever.

But of course, there were the legends.

Some claimed that a small band of riders did catch up with
the bloodthirsty family and killed them. The Benderís were all shot down and
their bodies burned to obliterate their existence. Only Kate was spared being
shot and instead she was burned alive for her crimes. The killers swore each
other to silence and because of this, the story has never been confirmed.
Others thought that the Benders had managed to escape out on the trackless
prairie or had slipped aboard a train in Thayer. The search for the Benders
continued sporadically for the next 50 years, with infrequent pairs of female
travelers being identified as Ma Bender and Miss Kate. In 1889, two women were
actually extradited from Detroit on this charge. The county was torn apart
with some residents identifying the pair, while others could not. The evidence
became so confused that the case never went to trial and eventually faded
away.

By 1886, the house in which the Benderís had lived was
reduced to nothing more than an empty hole that had once been the cellar.
Relic seekers carried away every last remnant of the building, even taking the
stones that lined the cellar walls. Only memories of the dark deeds of the
Bender family remained to provide evidence that they had ever existed.
Memories -- and the ghosts.

The stories claimed that the ghosts of the Benderís victims
haunted the ruins of the house and later, the earthen hole that remained.
Those who wandered out to the site of the house, hoping to bring back some
gruesome souvenir, were often frightened off by the strange, glowing
apparitions and the moaning and keening sounds that came from the darkness.
Some of these spirits still reportedly wander the area today.

And if they do, they may not walk alone. Some legends say
that Kate Bender has returned to haunt the lonely land where she took so many
lives. She is, perhaps, doomed to roam the earth in some sort of black penance
for her horrific crimes. Of course, this may be only the grim folklore of the
region, but few dare to walk these roadways at night to find out!